Bella and the Volturi
by Izzabel
Summary: This story goes on during Eclipse. After having taken care of the newborn army, the Voltury decide to come pay a visit to the Cullens. Due to the numerous differences within their way of living, the two clans keep fighting, regarding Bella most of the ti
1. Chapter 1

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Bella and the Volturi

**Okay - I'll give this a try. Please remember this is my first ****Fanfic, so be nice. I would, however, like to get some reviews... **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I am not Stephenie Meyer; the Twilight novels are not mine! **

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"Bella! Bella, my love, wake up!"

Groggy, and deeply asleep, Bella rolled onto her stomach and mumbled incomprehensively. Edward signed, but didn't give up.

"Bella… You have to wake up, please…!"

"What, Edward?" asked Bella, still half asleep.

"Alice just called and…" Edward hesitated.

Bella's eyes popped right open and she sat herself up, making Edward jump, a hundred percent awake, now.

"_Alice_ called? What's wrong?"

Once again, Edward sighed, and Bella caught the worried look in his eyes.

"Is it that bad?" she whispered.

Edward lowered his face, somber.

"We should get going. I'll explain you everything…" he grumbled, after a long silence that had sent Bella's heart flying with adrenaline.

Bella stiffened.

"Get going? What? Where are we going?"

"At my house," Edward answered simply.

"Your house? Why? Edward, it's – " Bella glanced at the dark clock on her night table – "three thirty in the morning…!"

"I know. I'm sorry. But it's too late…" responded Edward, his voice dark.

"Too late?! Edward, please, tell me! You're scaring me…" pleaded Bella, nervous.

"I should have seen it coming…" Edward shook his head, lost in his thoughts. "Come, Bella. Get ready…"

As gentle as ever, despite the tension Bella could feel excruciating from him, Edward helped her out of bed and gave, one item at the time, a pair of pants that would keep her warm – the night was pretty cold – a shirt, some socks and a pair of shoes.

When Bella finished dressing up, Edward came to kiss her behind the ear, and if Bella _did_ loose her track of though when he breathed on her, everything came back when she saw him offering her his arms to pick her up.

"Edward. Tell me what's going on. _Now, please._"

Edward laughed once, darkly.

"As I said, quite a temper…" he whispered under his breath.

Bella ignored him, and, trying really hard not to look like a swollen five-year-old, she stumped her foot to the ground, for Edward to understand she was dead serious with her question.

"The Volturi are here," Edward finally admitted.

Edward glared murderously over Bella's shoulder, lost in his thoughts, and Bella felt chills of fear run on her arms as Edward's declaration sank in.

"What…? The –? " Bella chocked on the last part of her sentence.

Edward hurried up to Bella when he saw wince and nearly fall.

"Bella, love. Don't worry. It'll be fine. I won't let them hurt you, neither will my family!"

"But Edward… The Volturi… You know what they want – you told me yourself they would not give us a second chance if they came to learn that we had not yet respected our promise…" Bella halfway sobbed.

Edward shushed her calmly and kissed her of the top of her head, hoping to calm her down.

"Carlisle was explaining them the situation when Alice called. Everything seemed to be fine…

"Then, why…?" started Bella.

"Do they want to see you?" completed Edward.

Bella nodded her head once.

Edward sighed.

"You know how Aro is – he's curious to see you again… And… He _is _wondering if you are still immunized to his power – to which you are, don't worry.''

"And Marcus? And Caius? Are they there, too?"

"Yes. With Demetri, Felix and Jane."

Bella nodded silently, and Edward pulled her even closer to him. A minute went by without neither of them talking.

"Love, we have to go," Edward finally said. "Alice told me they would send Demetri after us if we took too much time to get there…"

Bella stiffened at the idea, and Edward chocked back laughter.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes," Bella answered weakly.

Edward smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Everything will be fine. I promise," he told her.

Bella didn't have time to answer that she was already in Edward's arms, securely held to his ice-cold chest.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Edward, do you think we'll ever get the chance to live without worrying about danger…?" ask Bella, curious, but still scared.

Edward laughed darkly.

"I hope so. Until then, I'll never let anything happen to you. To us," he answered back.

A slight smile warmed Bella's face, and she nudged into Edward's neck to kiss him softly.

"Thank you," smiled Edward.

Silently, Edward slides out of Bella's window and the two of them leave Bella's house for the Cullen's.

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**Please review! Is my story good? Does it suck?**

**I'll try to post a second chapter as soon as possible.**

**Thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

**I realize I forgot to mention this in my previous chapter: writing in English is a tiny bit hard for me – the stories I write are usually in French… This been said, please excuse the mistakes you might find when reading my fanfic…**

**And, once again, remember: I am not Stephenie Meyer – sigh! I am just borrowing her characters…**

**Anyways, enjoy! And please review (thanks to _somerandomTwilightfan_) – ****I want to know what you guys think!**

_

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__Chapter 2_

Just as Bella started to hear the river's waters boil in the dark – which meant they were getting close to the Cullen house, Edward slowed his run to a slow walk and suddenly stopped.

"What is it, Edward?" Bella asked, nervous.

"We have company…" Edward answered, quiet.

"Who…?"

"Demetri. I hear his thoughts – the Volturi sended him; they were tired of waiting…"

"Yikes," murmured Bella, almost to herself.

Edward chuckled.

"Don't fret. Demetri has nothing against you," Edward snickered. "Actually, he's eager to see you again…"

Bella rolled her eyes.

Edward didn't answer. When she saw a really pale man come out of the dark woods, soundlessly, Bella froze, frighten.

"Demetri," coolly saluted Edward.

The man smiled.

"Edward," he answered calmly. He turned towards Bella, who was still cringing to Edward's neck. "Bella. It's nice seeing you again!" he said, enthusiast.

Bella didn't answer.

Demetri stepped ahead, but froze when he heard the deep and menacing growl building deep in Edward's chest, smiling.

"Why did you come?" Edward asked, though he already knew the answer.

"For you and Bella," Demetri simply answered. "My masters' patience is limited, you know. You must not keep them waiting…"

Edward snorted. Demetri smiled.

"Will you follow, or do I have to take Bella from you to make you come?" he asked, calmly – menacingly.

Bella whimper under her breath and cringed to Edward.

Edward flashed a murderously look at Demetri and reached around to pull Bella from his back. His gentle hands did not release her as he pulled her tightly to him, hugging her to his chest and kissed the top of her head.

"You go ahead," Edward said, dark, to Demetri. "I'll be right there…"

Demetri laughed.

"Sure thing. But please don't keep the Volturi waiting, though – I'll have to kill you, if you do…"

Edward smiled, but clearly, he wasn't amused at all.

"Off you go," he said.

Demetri nodded, and then he disappeared into the night.

Edward cuddled Bella.

"I know you don't want to go, Bella, but we have to… But as I said, everything is going to be fine. I am able to hear the Volturi's thoughts, now, and actually, they don't _really _have a problem with you still being human – all they want is to hear _our _side of the story."

Bella cowered in Edward's arm.

"Still… Them being here is not going. For neither of us…," she replied.

"You are right," approved Edward. "But it doesn't matter. And anyways, even if they were looking for trouble, we outnumber them – it would be six against seven, and I'm not even sure Aro, Marcus and Caius would actually fight us…"

"Please don't start talking about fighting!" pleaded Bella.

Edward laughed and kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose.

"Nothing to worry about," he emphasized. "Yet, we _should _get going…"

Bella nodded, and Edward took off running in the dark cold night.

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**Sorry this chapter is shorter than the first one. But I'll start working on the third one tonight - hopefully, I'll be able to post it tomorow or the day after... **

**Please! Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A special thanks to everyone that added my story to their favorites and who reviewed it. I really appreciate it. Here is, as promised, the third chapter of my fanfiction; I hope you'll like it!**

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The sun was starting to rise when Edward and Bella finally got to the Cullen house. Out of the blue, Emmett appeared to Edward's side, a large smile on his face.

"Edward! Bella! Shoot! Why did you guys come? – would have been _so much _fun to fight those Italian snobs off our lands…"

An unhappy hiss coming from inside the Cullen house made its way to both Edward and Emmett's ears, and the two brothers burst out laughing, amused.

_What's the fun of all this if we can't even piss them off a little? _thought Emmett.

Edward snickered, and nodded.

"How have you been doing, Bella?" asked Emmett, turning to Bella.

"Sleeping?" sarcastically answered Bella.

Emmett laughed, and Edward chuckled.

"Off you go, Bella," Emmett smiled, pointing the house's door. "The old guys seem to be eager to see you again… They've been getting quite impatient, I must say – Jasper had fun calming them down…"

To this, Bella had to smile.

"So, are we going, or not?" she finally asked. "Might as well get over with all this…" she added under her breath.

Emmett smiled, unable of keeping a strait, serious face.

"You worry too much, Bella. It's not like we're going to let anything happen to you," he laughed.

Edward slightly growled.

"What?!" Emmett said. "I'm not right, maybe? Trust me, if those Volturi are looking for trouble, I'm their man!'' Emmett said, not even lowering his voice.

Bella felt warmth in her chest as she realized what the Cullen family was ready to do to keep her safe. _I love them. My family,_ she thought. _Soon enough, I hope, I'll be able to defend myself… _

"Okay, let's get going," Edward finally said, after a few seconds of complete silence.

Bella breathed loudly and nodded. Emmett giggled behind her, and she through him a dark glare – which only made he laugh harder. _Seriously…_ gnawed Bella. Perfect timing, just like he _were_ able to read her thoughts, Edward looked at her and winked.

Soundlessly as ever, Emmett ran to open the door for his brother – who was still cuddling Bella tight to his chest, and entered after him. At the same time, the two brothers and Bella turned to face the Italian vampire family.

"Ah! Bella!" greeted Aro.

"Aro," Bella saluted him weakly. "Marcus, Caius," she added.

Neither of the two dark brothers returned her salutation.

Behind her, Bella heard Emmett grumble, irritated.

_Bella's really brave to salute them, and they don't even give a damn…! _he thought.

Edward slightly smiled as he eyed his favorite brother.

"Edward," said Aro. "It's nice seeing you again, too…"

Edward decided not to answer – instead, he just glared at the old vampire.

"Why are you here? Exactly?" he demanded after a few seconds of silence.

Caius straitened up.

"I'm sure you've heard about it: the newborn army in Seattle. We came to take care of it, and then _I _had the idea of dropping by…"

"I see," Edward answered simply.

"Yes, we _were _curious to see if you had fulfilled your promise," continued Caius. He eyed Bella silently, and the Cullen family tensed.

"Visibly, you are still human, Bella…" Caius eventually pointed out. Pointlessly, for all the vampires in the room _were_ more than aware of this last fact.

Bella didn't answer.

"Put her down, Edward, will you?" asked Aro. "Why don't you come and sit a little? – I believe we all have to talk. As you all know, the Volturi do _not _give second chances…"

Felix and Jane smiled somberly, ecstatic for what was to come.

Edward nodded after quickly glaring at the two vampires. Followed by Emmett, he went to sit next to Alice and Jasper, Bella on his lap.

A threatening smile obscured the faces of all the vampires that belonged to the Volturi family, as the room was clearly divided in two – Aro, Marcus and Caius and their followers on one side, and the Cullen clan on the other. A tense atmosphere filled up the room, and Bella felt shivers of fear run on her arms as every _evil _vampire turned to stare at her.

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**People! Please review! Thank you so much to the ones that did, but I would like some more!! I know I've had a little bit than three people that came to read my story, so just take ten seconds of your time to tell me what you think... Did you like it? Did you hate it? **

**Please and thanks!! **

**I'll post the next chapter tomorow; it's already done**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't really have much to say today so... Here is Chapter 4, I hope you like it. **

**As usual, please remember that I do NOT own the vampires in my story. Sadly. **

**Please review when you will be done reading this chapter! Thank you!**

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"So, Bella – how have you been doing, lately?" Aro asked pleasantly.

Rosalie snorted.

"Please, Aro. It's four thirty in the morning – Bella's usually sleeping at this hour. Can you please stop wasting our time?" she asked, clearly annoyed.

Bella's eyes popped right open as, just like everyone else in the room, she turned to look at Rosalie, surprised. Of course, their relationship had gotten almost friendly in the past two years; yet, it wasn't like Rosalie to stand up for her like that…

The beautiful blonde vampire chuckled when she caught her family's questioning looks.

"What?!" she asked.

Emmett burst into a roar of laughter, and the whole Cullen family joined in.

"My sister _is _right, though," Edward said when everyone stopped laughing. "Of course, you came here in Washington to take care of the newborns, but I'm sure you didn't do the trip to Forks for nothing…"

Aro's eyes narrowed, and behind him, Felix tensed.

"Aro, please," Carlisle decided to intervene.

"No 'Aro, please'," Aro cut him off. "We gave your son a chance to save his mate – instead of killing her—" Aro pointed a skeletal finger towards Bella, ''we allowed her to leave. In exchange, your daughter—'' this time, Aro, pointed to Alice, ''promised us – promised _me_ – that Bella would soon be a vampire… And it's been, what? Almost a year? And Bella is still human?!"

Carlisle smiled gently, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Aro, come on. What's a year to you?" he asked, almost smug.

Furious, the old vampire jumped on his feet, menacing. He didn't have time to say a word that Jasper was already a step in front of Carlisle, growling threateningly – as to dare Aro to do or say anything.

Aro backed up on his wheels, surprised.

"Jasper. It's fine," Carlisle smoothed his youngest son.

Jasper relaxed slightly, but remained to Carlisle's side.

"Thing is, Aro: Bella is part of our family. Maybe you hate the idea, but we will not let you, or anyone, harm her in any shape or form. I didn't want to get to all this threat exchange, but you leave me no choice. Just like you would fight for your brothers, I am ready to fight for Bella, who is to become my daughter in a near future."

Emmett slowly get up.

"Bella's already a sister to me. If someone wants to hurt her, he'll have to kill me first," he said calmly, serious, for once.

Without a word, Aro considered all the Cullens one at the time, finishing with Bella, who courageously held his cold gaze.

"She cannot stay human any longer," Caius said calmly. "Why not change her now – it would simplify everything… Back in Italy last year, it seemed pretty clear to me that Bella actually _wanted _to become a vampire…"

Aro turned to look at his brother, and then back to face the Cullen family.

"What a great idea, Caius!" he said, excited as ever.

Edward tensed.

"The date has already been set – why do you, on the contrary, want to complicate everything? Will waiting the end of the school year kill you…?!" he growled.

Aro rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"Why? Why always wait? She's here now – let's do it. I _would _love to taste her blood, but if you insist on changing her yourself, I have nothing against it, Edward… She _is _your mate, after all…" he said.

Blood. _Blood._

The whole Cullen clan tensed as Aro started talking about blood and transformation. In one swift, calculated move, all at the same time, Edward – pulling up Bella with him and encircling her waist with his arms, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Esme got up to face as a whole Aro's family, with Jasper and Carlisle already standing.

Ready to defend their masters, Felix, Jane and Demetri also stepped up.

Once again in a short length of time, the room filled up with a tense atmosphere, as everyone got ready for a dirty fight.

Impatient for some action, Felix growled, and immediately, Emmett, Jasper and Edward retorted.

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Bella briskly detached herself of Edward.

"Oh, quit it! Stop! Every one! Now. I've had enough!" she screamed.

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**Haha! Someone sended me a review yesterday saying how cliffy the ending of Chapter 3 was... 'Guess the end of Chapter 4 isen't any better, no? As long as I get a few rewiews, I'll post Chapter 5 tomorow! Thanks to everyone that did leave a comment for the previous chapters! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello people! Here is Chapter 5. I know it's pretty short, sorry, but Chapter 6 is a bit better... Enjoy! And review, plz!**

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"What on earth—?" Felix asked, astonished.

Everyone turned to stare at Bella, even her own family members.

"Okay. This seriously has to stop," Bella practically choked, furious as ever.

"What… What are you talking about?" Alice dared to ask.

"All this! Don't you see how ridiculous this is?!" Bella answered. "You're all ready to fight each other, and for what? – me?! Nonsense! I am so_ tired_ of being protected like this!"

"Bella, love, calm down…" murmured Edward, incredulous.

"No, Edward. I will _not _calm down!" replied Bella.

Emmett failed at stopping himself from laughing under his breath, but he chocked short when Bella through him a fierce look.

"Now, you all listen to me," said Bella. "Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rosalie… Edward – thanks to all of you, for standing up for me. I really appreciate it."

Bella looked around her, and thanked every Cullen vampire. Then, bravely, she turned to Aro and his brothers.

"Yes, Edward and Alice promised you that I would become a vampire in a near future. I understand your displeasure of seeing that I am still breathing, but the fact is, unless you want to put your own laws and world in jeopardy, you _will _give my family some more time and agree to wait until the end of school, just like Edward said," Bella calmly said.

"Oh really? And why would we do you this favor, may I ask?" Caius bitterly asked Bella.

"To go get Edward in Italy last year, I went missing for three days, back here. Maybe you don't really remember how worried a father can get, for you are over a thousand year old, but the fact is mine got really panicky. For your information, Charlie has something against Edward; he thinks I somehow turned bad since I met him… So what do you think _he'll _think if I just disappeared – again – only because three _really _old vampires – to whom time means absolutely nothing – cannot even wait three more months for me to move out of my father's house?'' asked Bella, highly sarcastic.

Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rosalie and Edward cracked a smile.

"Now, you wait a minute, _human_…" Caius started.

Bella cut him off.

"No, I'm not done yet. Listen to me, for once," snapped Bella, and then she scrambled a little to get back with her thoughts.

"As I was saying… What will happen to your precious law about secrecy if you break it yourself? My dad will blame the Cullens, then they will have to leave Forks, Charlie will try to hunt them down, and so on and so forth… Basically, changing me now would only cause you trouble…" Bella enumerated on her fingers. "Besides, Edward and I have plans of getting married before my transformation," Bella proudly added.

She showed Aro her engagement ring, and smugly realized she had not winced to the idea of marriage like she usually did.

A large smile lid Edward's angelic face and he lightly spun Bella around to kiss her. Then, suddenly, he choked back at laughter.

"What?" murmured Bella.

Edward shook his head, amused.

"Are you done, yet?" he demanded her.

Bella flushed.

"I _think_ so… Why?"

"Because you've greatly impressed everyone in this room and you got your point through. Nice job," he complimented her.

Bella blushed deeper, pleased.

Emmett, soon joined by the rest of his family, burst out laughing. Even the Volturi vampires cracked a smile, though Jane and Felix groaned of disappointment.

"I absolutely _love _your fiancée, Edward!" Emmett smiled.

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**Tks for reading! I'll post Chapter 6 tomorow morning, alright? Pleazzze review (thanks to every one that did for the previous chapters, I love you all!) **

**Yes, I'm hyper... **


	6. Chapter 6

**Is it just me or my chapters keep getting smaller and smaller...? Okay, maybe Chapter 5 was shorter than this one, but still... **

**Question: Would you guys prefer if I posted, lets say, two chapters at the time every two days or as often as I can, or do I just leave it as it is right now and hope my chapters get longer? Please tell me when you review! Thanks! **

**Enjoy!**

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"So… What's going to happen now?" Bella hesitated.

Aro turned to Edward.

"When is your wedding?" he asked.

"July fifth…" Edward answered, slightly confused.

Aro turned to his brothers. After quickly reading his thoughts, Edward understood where he was going with his question, and his eyes grew a little somber.

Without a word, the three brothers consulted each other. Finaly, after only a few seconds, Aro turned back to Edward. The Cullens held their breath, waiting for the decision that had been taken.

"You have until the tenth of July to change her," Aro said to Edward solemnly.

Both Edward and Bella nodded. Aro smiled a humor-less smiled that sent Bella's heart flying with nervousness.

"July fourteenth, my brothers and I will send you Demetri to see if you held your word. Hopefully, he will come back to us with a positive response," Aro said lightly.

"Might as well warn you now: if Demetri comes back and tells us that Bella is still human, you will than be able to start counting the minutes left to your lives," Caius continued, threateningly. "This is the second chance we give you – trust me, there will not be a third one. On the other hand, if we agree to Bella's _demand_—" Caius almost spat the word, "we want something in exchange..."

Edward growled under his breath. Caius totally ignored him as he turned to Carlisle.

"If you want Bella to be safe, Carlisle, you and your family will have to agree to a non-negotiable assurance we give ourselves that you will not just take off when we leave…"

"What are you talking about, exactly?" Carlisle coolly asked his old friend.

"On July fourteenth, if Demetri comes back to Voltera and tells us that Bella is still breathing, than we will come for another visit. And this time, instead of taking care of recalcitrant newborns, we'll take care of _your _family… It's Bella, or your wife and sons and daughters."

For what seemed to be hours to Bella, Carlisle looked at Caius, pained, as if his old friend had been stabbing him in the back. Finally, the blond vampire turned to his family.

"Bella _will_ be changed either way, as we already had it planned, but I will not accept of decline this ultimatum without consulting you all, obviously," he said quietly.

Edward sighed as he pulled Bella tighter to his chest.

"I promised Bella months ago that I would change her if she married me first. She accepted. I have no reason to go back on my word… I'm in," Edward calmly responded.

Carlisle nodded, and then turned to the rest of the family.

"I'm in, too. Obviously," Emmett chuckled darkly.

"Same," Alice, Jasper and Esme said at the same time.

Everyone turned to Rosalie, who was looking into Bella's eyes.

"I told you a while ago that I did not agree to your decision, when you told us you wanted to become a vampire. But I clearly see that you will not change your mind. I really hope you will not regret choosing eternal damnation, Bella. Truly, I do. But whether I would or not make the same decision as you if I had gotten the chance to is not important, right now. I already consider you as my second sister, you know; if you really want to become a vampire, then I'll stick to your decision," said Rosalie, solemn.

She turned to Carlisle. "I'm in," she told him.

Carlisle nodded and than turned to face Aro and Caius, disgust of his beautiful face.

"It's nice to see my old friends still trust me," he said sarcastically. "Caius, you offered me an ultimatum. As you can see, my family and I agree to it. Sincerely, I hope we will not see each other again any time soon after you leave…" he nearly snapped.

Caius growled under his breath, but Carlisle ignored him. Aro simply nodded.

Carlisle turned to his family.

Back to sitting on Edward's lap, Bella felt her eyes fill up with tears of gratitude.

"Thanks. Thank you so much, everyone," she chocked.

Alice pulled herself close to Bella and kissed her lightly on the cheek, smiling.

"You know we love you! We adopted you the very first time we met you," she told her. "It might have taken longer for _some of us—_"Alice mockingly eyed Rosalie, "but everything's fine, now!"

Rosalie grimaced but laughed anyways.

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**Ya, so I decided Edward and Bella were to get married July 5th. Just in case you're wondering, since someone already asked me that question, in my story, Edward and Bella didn't really get to talk about their wedding yet (it's all coming up in Chapter 9, hihi!) so, technically****, Alice is _not_ organizing it and their is no such thing as an August 13th limit... Capiche?**

**As usual, I'll post Chapter 7 tomorow. **

**Please review! And don't forget to answer the question I asked you at beginning of the chapter. **

**Tks! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello people! **

**Okay, so I know it's the week-end and probably you are all are busy with doing homework or shopping or sports or what ever, but I would like people to leave comments on this story... For the previous chapter, I only got 1 review (for over 30 hits...) Please, I**** want to know what you guys think...!**

**Plus, with the previous chapter in which the Volturi agreed to give so more time to Bella and the Cullen, I did get the whole goal of my story through. So... I do have a few things coming up, but after that, I'll be starting to wrap up everything... So if you have ideas of anykind, let me know! **

**Enjoy!**

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Bella's stomach growled and everyone in the room stopped talking to look at her. Self-conscious, Bella blushed. Edward chuckled under his breath and kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose.

"You hungry?" he asked her softly.

Bella grimaced lightly, ashamed.

"Ya, a little bit…" she admitted.

To Alice's side, Jasper laughed, amused.

"Go grab yourself something to eat in the kitchen, if you want to," Esme softly proposed to Bella.

Bella turned to her, her eyes slightly confused.

"We usually trash the food we buy at the superstore," Esme explained. "But since you've been spending a lot of time here lately, I started to save a few things in case you got hungry some time… There isn't much, but a granola bar or an orange is better than nothing, right? Do you like oranges?"

Bella nodded.

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" Esme smiled.

Bella didn't answer, nor did she move. After a few seconds, Edward sighed.

"Okay, let's go. Breakfast time for the human," he joked.

In one swift movement, Edward got up and lifted Bella onto his shoulder, only holding her legs. Bella screamed, and Edward and the rest of the Cullen family burst out laughing. Slowly (for a vampire), Edward headed to the kitchen.

"Edward, put me down! I'm able to walk, thank you very much," Bella snapped.

Edward shook his head, refusing to let her go. Jasper and Emmett looked at each other and laughed as all the conversations they had had about Bella's temper came back to their minds.

"_Edward Anthony Mason_, put me down or else…" Bella threatened.

Edward scowled.

"You're no fun," he said.

Slowly so Bella wouldn't panic, Edward pulled her back up and cuddled her to his chest as if she were a five-year-old kid.

"Better?" he asked.

Bella smiled, her eyes sparkling of amusement.

"Gna, I don't know…" she faked to hesitate. "Come over here," she then demanded, motioning Edward closer.

Confused, Edward leaned in, and Bella planted an unexpected kiss of his frozen lips.

"Yep, definitely better," she then mumbled against his skin.

Edward laughed.

When the two of them came back a few minutes later, Bella was walking like a normal person and had Edward's arm around her waist. As usual, Edward shadowed her. In the living room, the conversations stopped as everyone stared.

Totally ignoring the others, Edward went to sit back on the couch and pulled Bella onto his lap. Silently, Bella peeled her orange. As she started to eat it, the Cullen vampires stopped staring – to see Bella eat was no more a source of amazement for them. The Volturi soon gave up, too, though some of them kept picking regularly.

"Speaking of eating, I'm hungry too!" Felix suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone froze, and Edward snorted.

"Leave it to you to ruin the moment, Felix," he groaned.

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**One last thing, I'm going to post chapter 8 tomorow as usual. All I'm asking is for at least two reviews for the past two chapters. That's it. Please...? (puppy eyes...) **

**_REVIEW!! _**

**Please and Thanks! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow! Thank you so much for all the reviews! I really appreciate it!**

**Here is Chapter 8. It's a bit longer than the two previous ones I've posted this week-end, and the one coming up tomorow is the longest one I've writen yet. Hopefully, you like them!**

**Enjoy! **

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"Dear Carlisle, why don't you show us your lands, a little?" Felix asked.

Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and Edward growled in response.

"There will be no hunting on our lands," Carlisle snapped at Felix.

"Remember your masters' precious law about secrecy, dear," Rosalie bitterly added, glaring at the tall vampire.

Felix threw her a fierce look and turned to Caius, obviously his favorite within his three masters.

"Caius…" he pleaded.

Caius' eyes flickered towards Edward and then focused back to his guard.

"Not now," he simply said.

Edward's eyes narrowed.

Obviously, Caius was hiding something from him, but since he was concentrating of something else (translating the italian national anthem in French), when Edward tried to read his mind, he didn't get to find out what the big secret was.

_What's the old thing hiding, you think?_ Alice asked him.

Edward turned to her and slightly shrugged.

_I don't like this, _Alice almost chanted.

Edward rolled his eyes, approving. _Neither do I_, he thought.

Perfect timing: just as the Cullens were about to question a little bit more Caius' weird secrecy, the kitchen phone rang. Bella froze.

"What time is it?" she asked, panicky.

"About six in the morning," Jasper answered her, confused by the sudden nervousness he could feel excruciating of her. "Why?"

"How much do you want to bet it's Charlie?" Bella replied as the phone rang again.

Jasper nodded. Next to him, Alice froze.

"Yep," she said an instant later, "it's Charlie…"

In the kitchen, the phone rang a third time. Esme got up to get it.

"What do you want me to tell him?" she asked Bella.

"Man, I don't know!" Bella squeaked.

"Find something, people! Come on!" Esme replied as she answered the phone.

Carlisle, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rosalie, Edward and Bella looked at each other. In the other room, they heard Esme greet Charlie.

"Hi, Charlie! What – oh no, don't worry. You didn't wake us up – we're all early birds around here! Hum, Bella? Ya, she's here… Why? Euh…"

Alice rolled her eyes and got up.

At vampire speed, she got to Esme and held out a hand for her to give her the phone.

"'Morning, Charlie, it's Alice! How are you?" Alice gave Charlie time to answer and then kept going: "Good, that's great! Hey, Charlie, I'm really sorry – I didn't mean to worry you, I just forgot to leave a note before leaving…"

Back in the living room, Bella heard her father's voice buzz louder – clearly, her going missing (again) had gotten Charlie worried. But Alice was so adorable on the phone Bella knew she'd easily be able to reassure him.

"Bella's fine, don't worry. She just didn't feel well this morning, and since I was already supposed to pick her up, she called me a bit earlier…" Alice lied casually.

There was a pause during which Bella heard nothing, and then Alice continued:

"Ya, Carlisle took a look at her; he says she's fine. She's sleeping, right now, but I can wake her up, if you want to talk to her…?" she offered.

Once again, Charlie's voice buzzed louder, and this time, Bella guessed he was trying to convince Alice to give up the last idea. After a few seconds, he calmed back down and Bella watched Alice as she listen to what he was telling her.

"Okay, I'll tell her when she wakes up. Great! Take care, have fun!" Alice wished him. "Ya, thank you. See you later!" finally, Alice hung up. She turned to Bella.

"Your father's fishing with Billy today," she told her. "He hopes you feel better soon," Alice added, laughing.

Bella slightly blushed – she had always hated lying to her father.

"Er, thanks…"

"Anytime," Alice chuckled.

Soundlessly, she came back to sit next to Jasper, a huge smile glued to her face. Feeling her smugness, Jasper laughed under his breath and planted a kiss of her spiky black hair. "Still, please don't lie too much – I wouldn't want your nose to lengthen like Pinocchio's…" he laughed.

Alice threw him a funny look, grimaced, but laughed anyways.

"Sure, sure. As you wish," she said.

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**I don't have much to say today... Um... Please keep reviewing? **

**Thanks! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello people! I don't have much to say today either so... Here is Chapter 9.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"You should go sleep a little, love," Edward said when Bella yawned for the hundredth time in five minutes.

"No, I'm fine," Bella refused.

"Isabella Marie Swan, you truly are the stubbornness person I've ever met, do you know that?" Edward sighed.

"Yep," Bella smiled.

Edward gave in and pulled Bella tighter to his chest, hugging her. Bella smiled, euphoric. Neither of them listened as the conversation continued around them, and a few minutes later, when Edward saw that Bella couldn't keep her eyes open anymore, he laughed.

"Okay, say goodnight to everyone, sweetheart – you're going to bed," he laughed.

Against Edward's frozen chest, Bella mumbled she wasn't tired. Edward laughed under his breath and got up. Everyone turned to look at him and Bella.

"She tired. I'll go put her to bed so she at least gets to sleep some more…" he said.

His family nodded. The Volturi curiously looked at Bella, for they weren't used at been around humans that needed sleep and kept silent.

When Edward got to his room, he tucked in Bella and came to lie next to her. Bella yawned.

Edward kissed her on the top of her head and cuddled her to him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Tired, but fine," Bella murmured.

Edward sighed.

"Are _you _okay?" Bella asked him.

"Just fine, don't worry…"

Edward's dark tone intrigued Bella; she turned to face him and caught the worried look in his eyes.

"What? Tell me, please…"

Edward groaned.

"Felix annoys the hell out of me," he said. "And he worries me a little…"

Shocked, Bella froze, her eyes focused on Edward face.

"How come?!" she asked.

"He's thirsty. And every time he looks at you, all he thinks about is killing you…"

Bella stiffened.

"I didn't want to start a fight so I didn't say anything, and Jasper helped me by calming him a little, but I'm scared he'll try something if the Volturi keep delaying their hunting trip. And, then again, it causes trouble since there is not way we'll let them hunt around here…" Edward continued.

"I see…" Bella mumbled.

Edward studied her brown eyes.

"Are you scared?" he asked her.

"No," Bella answered automatically.

Edward eyed her, slightly doubtful as he called her lie. Bella sighed lightly.

"Ok, well, ya, a little. But I've been through worst, so it's not too bad…" Bella admitted. "Are you going to go with them, when they'll be too thirsty?" she asked.

"I don't know if _I'll _go – I'd much rather stay with you, but I'm sure Carlisle and probably Emmett and Rosalie will follow. I think Jasper's the only one that won't go – it won't help anyone if_ he_ can't stop himself…"

Bella nodded. "Ya, I guess…"

An amused smile illuminated Edward's face.

"Don't worry. You should sleep, now, Bella…" he chuckled.

"Sure. One more question, though," Bella asked.

"Go ahead," Edward curiously said.

"July 5th?" Bella wondered.

Edward laughed.

"Ya, um, I know we hadn't chosen an official date, but Aro's thoughts were clear as crystal: I had to play the game, otherwise, he would have insisted on changing you now…" Edward answered. "I hope it doesn't bother you?" he worriedly asked.

"Of course not! The sooner the better."

"Good. That reassures me. I was nervous you might get scared…"

"Scared? Of marrying the man I love? Are you for real?" Bella pretended to be horrified. She laughed when she saw Edward's surprised face.

"I admit I didn't like the idea at first, but I've changed my mind, you know… Now, I actually think that getting married to you is the perfect way to prove how much I love you. Plus, I know how important this is to you…" Bella lightly kissed Edward's cold lips. "But it also means you'll be stuck with me for eternity – no pun intended – are you sure that's what you want?"

Edward laughed out loud.

"Ha! Of course! You have no idea how happy I get when I think that you'll soon be my wife…" Edward said. "Isabella Cullen, Bella Cullen. My wife, my love," he murmured.

Bella pulled herself to Edward's face and kissed him, overjoyed.

"I love you," she told him.

"I love you more," Edward answered playfully.

"Impossible!"

"Nothing's impossible, you should know this by now…" Edward snickered.

Bella laughed.

"Sleep now, my love. We'll have plenty of time to talk about our marriage when you wake up," Edward hushed her.

Bella smiled and closed her eyes. She fell asleep listening to Edward humming her lullaby.

Edward stayed with Bella until she was deeply asleep. Then, he decided to go back downstairs to see what the others were up to. _Plus, with Felix and Caius around, it's always good to able to read their thoughts every once in a while… _he thought.

Slowly, soundlessly, Edward got up from the bed and walked to the door of his room. Very cautiously, to make sure he would not wake Bella up, Edward looked at her one last time and then closed the door of his room behind him.

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**Review, please!! **

**Random as ever: For all the people who speak French (frenchies) around the world, today is the international day to celebrate and show your pride of being French. So... À tous ceux et celles qui parlent Français, BONNE SAINT-JEAN-BAPTISTE!!**

**- De la québecoise exilée en Ontario, Izzabel!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everybody!! Thank you sooo much to everyone that sended me either reviews or messages in French, I really enjoyed it! lol**

**Um, well, this is Chapter 10. It's nearly as long as the previous one, so I hope you'll like it...**

**One last thing: I'm leaving thursday on vacation with my family for about a week and a half. And I don't know if I'll be able to update then... I don't even know if I'll have access to a computer... So... I'll try my best to write stuff but please don't kill me if I don't...? Please? Basically****, tomorow is the last chapter you'll get from me until July 7th. Sorry... **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Slowly, Edward walked back to the living room. Several pairs of eyes looked at him when he entered, but the conversation that was going on didn't stop otherwise. Silently, Edward came to sit next to Alice and Jasper.

"So? What happened next?" Emmett impatiently asked.

Aro smiled and Jasper stiffened at his brother's enthusiast.

"When we got there, we realized that we were to be facing the largest newborn army we had seen in decades…" Aro continued.

A large smile illuminated Emmett's face. No need to read his mind to understand he would have loved to be with the Volturi at that time… Especially after having told his own family about a million times that they had to take care of the army before it did anymore trouble…

"What are you waiting for to tell us when happened after?!" he nearly roared.

In his corner, Demetri tried to muffle is hilarity – and failed. Edward glared at him, but ended up smiling too. Obviously, the Volturi family wasn't used to Emmett's constant enthusiasm.

"How many were there?" Jasper professionally asked.

"Twenty five, I believe. Maybe a bit more…" Aro answered.

Jasper's face grew somber as he acknowledged Aro's answer.

"What?" the Volturi asked, puzzled by Jasper's reaction.

Jasper's eyes met Aro's. "Let's just say I'm from the south," the blond vampire answered simply.

Aro seemed to understand as he nodded.

"I see. So you are familiar with the concept of newborn armies?" he asked.

"Yes," Jasper said, prudent.

Indeed, Jasper was familiar with the idea of using newborns as an army. He was also familiar with the Volturi's punishment to who ever created that kind of army and/or was part of it. This being said, since he did not want to die, Jasper decided to keep for himself the fact that he had been created for that exact purpose: newborn fighter.

From the corner of his eyes, Jasper saw Edward and Carlisle nod, as they approved his discretion.

"Can you continue?" Emmett asked, impatient.

Refusing to be side-tracked, Aro eyed Jasper.

"I'd really like to hear your story if we ever have a minute of two…" he said, pensive. Jasper nodded tensely. Next to him, Alice straightened up as if to protect her mate and glowered at Aro. _We'll see about that, _she furiously thought.

Edward smiled.

"Later, maybe," he approved. "But before that, let us hear the end of _your_ story, Aro," he added, to calm both Emmett and Alice.

"So be it," Aro smiled. "Seattle being sunnier than Forks—" he continued, smiled at the comparison, "we had to wait for nighttime before taking care of all those newborns. I'll admit I was a little nervous – twenty five against six? – it'd be a first… But than, as we started to fight them, we realized that they had absolutely no clue what was happening. All they were looking for was blood – they didn't even have a clue of _who we were…!_

Rosalie snickered. _Arrogant, _she spat. Edward tried to hide his amusement, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Jasper smile – no doubt, he felt Rosalie's annoyance and he thought it was pretty funny.

"When Marcus realized that the leader of the group was no where to be seen, it intrigued me. The battle lasted nearly three hours; curious to understand was what up with this odd and disproportionate group, I asked to be brought all the newborns – alive – so I could study their thoughts," continued Aro, unaware of what was going on around him.

Caught up in the story, Emmett nodded.

"All the mind reading brought us to the north-west part of the city, near the ocean creek. When we finished taking care of the three humans we caught spying on us—" the Cullens shuddered.

_Thank God, Bella isn't here, _they all thought, relieved.

"…we entered the forest nearby," Aro kept on babbling. "We were surprised by the intensity of our smell that was everywhere… Every single tree smelled like our kind. When Marcus told us that the leader of the group was somewhere around, we all started to look. We found five more newborns that were only a few days old feeding on some campers – we killed them all – and another one that was, what – may be a year old?"

Aro turned to his brothers to seek their opinion. Marcus nodded, seeming utterly bored (as always) and Aro turned back to the Cullen family.

"I believe his name was Riley," Aro said unemotionally.

"_Was_?" Alice asked.

Aro smiled at her.

"Yes, was. A nice kid, if we put aside the fact that he was part of a newborn army…"

'_Guess it's a good thing Jasper didn't give any details on his past life,_ Emmett mused.

_No doubt it is, _Edward answered to himself. _With the Volturi, more is always less… _

"Continue," Esme softly pleaded Aro.

"Riley was not what you could call very _cooperative_ – he refused to tell us who he was working for. Marcus had been able to tell us that he was not the person we were looking for, rather the leader's right-hand man. Jane—" a lovely smile appeared on the girl's angelic face, "therefore got to play with him a little, and then, surprisingly, he became extremely _chatty… _We got to find out everything we wanted to know and just to make sure he had told us everything, I read his thoughts before getting rid of him…"

"Anything interesting?" Edward nearly growled.

Aro shrugged, smug.

"Not really…"

Curious despite Aro's dismissive tone, Edward went to look through his thoughts to see what he had discovered, since the newborn army had worried his family quite a bit no so long ago. What he read in Aro's head probably would have given him a heart attack if – in the first place – it had been possible.

"_Victoria?!_" he snarled, enraged.

* * *

**For all those who do NOT like cliffy ending, don't worry, this isn't one. For this chapter and the one I'll post tomorow, I'm using Eclipse as a guide line. So don't be pissed at me... lol**

**As I said, I probably won't be able to post chapters anytime after tomorow but I _will_ try me best to check my e-mails so that dosen't mean I don't want any reviews - you guys still have homework to do while I'm gone... ;) **

**Well... That's about it. Thank you for reading and PLEASE leave a comment! **

**Btw, I have absolutly no clue if Seattle is actually sunnier than Forks - don't bite my head of if is isn't... :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**This is longest chapter yet. Sorry if it's a little confused; I got carried away. Enjoy – the ending's not cliffy (so there's no reason to beat me up...) **

**Please review – I'll do my best to check my e-mails while I'm away. Thanks!**

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"_What?!_" every single Cullen roared. "_Victoria?_"

Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Alice, Emmett and Rosalie looked at each other before turning towards Edward, furious yet surprised. But Edward was too stunned to answer their questions, so Carlisle turned to Aro.

"Please tell us what you read in Riley's head?" he asked impatiently.

"Why?!" Aro couldn't stop from asking, stunned. "What's going on?"

"Let's just say that Victoria is an old enemy of ours. Can we please know what you learned about her?" Carlisle pressed.

Aro hesitated. He threw a quite glance to his brothers and to his guards, and found them just as surprised as he was.

"Um… _Victoria _changed Riley. She created the newborn army we took care of."

"Anything else?" Edward asked through his clenched teeth.

"A few more days and we would have missed Victoria and her army; there were about to attack…"

"Attack who?" Alice growled.

"I don't know. _Riley_didn't know. But he was nearly obsessed with a very floral smell, freesia – just like Bella's, Edward," Aro looked at Edward.

"The clothes!" Jasper out of nowhere screamed.

Everyone turned to look at him, and suddenly, his family understood what he was talking about.

"Yes! That'd explain everything!" Rosalie said.

"What on earth is going on here?!" Felix wondered out loud.

His masters and friends turned to him, just as confused, but the Cullen family completely ignored him.

Edward got up and started pacing around, nervous. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to Aro.

"Did you catch Victoria?" he asked him.

Aro shook his head.

"No. She was long gone by the time we were done with Riley…"

Edward swore under his breath.

"That means she'll be coming back here…" Emmett thought to himself.

A huge smile appeared on his face as the idea of fighting her off made its way to his mind. Edward growled at his favorite brother.

"This is no game, Emmett. She won't stop hunting her until we get rid of her!"

Jane and Felix looked at each other, a large smile in both their faces as they understood what Edward was talking about – especially the part about hunting _someone _down… Rosalie and Jasper noticed and simultaneously growled at them.

"Sure, American vampires are entertaining, but man, are they stuck up – they can't even take a joke…" Felix laughed under his breath.

Jane nodded, chuckling.

"We have to take care of Victoria. This can't go any further – _a newborn army?!_" Carlisle sighed, incredulous.

"Is it just me, or Victoria is a tiny-ishly bit prone to over-reaction?" Rosalie hissed.

"Tell me about it," Jasper grumbled.

In his corner, Aro, tired of being ignored, turned to Jane and tilled his head in Esme's direction. Another angelic smile illuminated the girl's face as slowly rose and focused on the only Cullen vampire that was not talking. When Esme screamed in pain for the first time, all her family members froze and turned to her, worried.

"Esme, what's wro—" Carlisle started.

Esme fell from the love seat she had been sitting on, in obvious pain, and Carlisle automatically kneeled next to her, followed by the rest of the family.

"Esme, love!" he pleaded.

But Esme didn't answer; her eyes were shut, he face twisted in pain and she was whimpering. Happening to look around her, worried, Rosalie soon understood what was going on when she saw the look on Jane's amused face.

"Stop it!" she roared, startling her family members who looked up to see who she was screaming at.

When he also understood what was going on, Carlisle's face darken with fury – and for the first time, he actually looked like a real, cruel, evil vampire.

"Free her," he hissed as he murderously looked over the tiny Jane.

Jane totally ignored him. Carlisle turned to Aro, tensed, and was about to pounce when Edward held him back.

"Look," he simply said, pointing at Jane.

Carlisle calmed down a little and followed Edward's stoic gaze: slightly shriveled up on herself, her face shut with obvious pain, Jane was stiffening.

"Jane, dear…!" Aro wondered, almost worried.

_What the hell is going on here?! _Emmett thought.

Edward turned to his brother, and simultaneously, both of them shrugged.

"Oh my, Jasper!" Alice exclaimed.

Everyone – Cullen and Volturi – looked at her and then turned to Jasper. Somber, glaring and stiff, Jasper's eyes were locked on Jane.

"What are you doing to her?!" Aro asked when he understood Jasper was the one responsible for Jane's pain.

"I diverted Esme's pain on her," Jasper simply responded.

"Well, stop it!" ordered Aro.

"You first," Jasper said. "Tell your Jane to free Esme. Her pain will stop with Esme's."

Aro glowered at Jasper – obviously, he hated obeying to others – but nodded. He didn't really have a choice.

"Jane, dear. Stop it. It's alright, now," he smoothed her.

Jane sighted and managed to nod. Carlisle and Edward turned towards Esme to see how she was doing: slowly, she stopped cringing and started breathing again. When she finally opened her eyes, Carlisle ran to her and hugged her to his chest, relieved. Edward turned back to Aro and Jane.

"You will pay for this," Aro hissed.

"You first," Edward growled.

Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and, above all, Jasper joined him.

Silently, Felix kneeled to Jane's side.

"Are you okay?" he asked her under his breath.

"Yes," Jane answered weakly.

Aro startled everyone in the room by chuckling.

"You indeed are a very _interesting _person, dear Jasper," he laughed when all the Cullens turned to him.

A deep and menacing growl build its way deep in Jasper's chest.

"Don't you_ ever_ dare harming my family again," he roared.

A slight, humor-less smile obscured Aro's face.

"I'll try to remember the advice," he scowled.

"You better," Edward glowered.

Dead serious – no pun intended – all the Cullen children gathered together to face as a whole Aro's family, while Carlisle took care of Esme a few steps behind them.

For the first time, Aro actually considered his friend's family as an equal to his.

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**Just a little reminder, I am leaving for a week and a half vacation so this is probably the last chapter you'll get for this story until I come back. I hope you liked it. **

**Please review! Thanks!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys, I'm back! Gee, South Carolina is... sunny! Lol. Anyways. Sorry I took so long to update, but I started to work again and my shifts are so crazy I don't really had time to write much lately. Actually, I won't get to update everyday like I used too - I'll do it as often as I can, but don't I can't promise anything... **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! **

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Going back to a normal conversation when everyone got to calm down was a little hard, and the atmosphere of the room remained tensed. Gentle as ever, Carlisle took precious care of Esme and helped her up when she felt better. Silently, all the Cullen family members went back to their seats and turned to face the Volturi.

"So… What's going to happen now?" Emmett wondered out loud, slightly edgy.

"'How long do you plan on staying here' would be a better question," Alice grumbled.

Caius rolled his eyes.

When she saw that no one was going to answer her, Alice sighed. For less than a second, she froze. In unison with Edward, who was sitting two seats to her left, she groaned when she saw the answer.

"This long?!" Edward moaned.

In their corner behind their three masters, Felix, Jane and Demetri chuckled under their breaths, amused.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'd like you to leave as soon as possible. Somehow, I was eager to see you all again, but I guess things have changed a lot since last time…" Carlisle said calmly, menacingly.

As he spoke, he protectively held Esme to his chest.

Jasper nodded and turned towards Alice.

"How long are they staying here?" he whispered in her ear.

"It's not definite yet, but at least a few days for sure," she answered.

Facing her, Aro smiled.

"Such a clever power that you have, dear Alice," he said.

Alice glowered at him.

"Don't waste your time asking me to join your family again; my answer hasn't changed since last time… Neither did Edward's, and back off of Jasper if you want to be able to leave this place healthy and whole," Alice snapped.

Aro's eyes tighten and his smile slightly faded.

_Insolent, _he thought. Edward chocked back a roar of laughter when he heard him. _Idiotic snob, _he thought back.

"Do you have any plans that would explain your prolonged presence here?" Rosalie asked sarcastically.

"Why don't you ask your psychic of a sister – she seems to know everything better than everyone," Marcus snapped.

Jasper growled and Alice rolled her eyes as she concentrated.

At first, her head snapped towards Marcus, her eyes vague.

"He's hiding something from us," Alice said absently.

Jasper through an evil glare at Marcus and kneeled in front of Alice.

"Do you know what?" he asked her softly.

"No. I can't see anything."

"So how do you know he's hiding something?" Jasper asked, puzzled.

Alice didn't answer. Slowly, absently, she tilled her head to the side and her eyes narrowed. Jasper understood she was now seeing something else – but before he had time to question her, Alice tensed.

"Bella!"

In a blur, Edward kneeled in front of his sister, next to Jasper.

"What, Alice?" he pressed.

"Victoria… She's back…"

Edward snarled, infuriated.

"There's no way she'll get anywhere _near _Bella," he snapped.

Suddenly, Alice bowed her head, and when she straitened back up, her eyes were focused on Edward.

"It's too late!" she nervously said.

Edward growled but before he had to time to answer, Alice got up and continued:

"She's already here. Now. In our house!"

Horrified, Edward jumped to his feet.

"_What?!_"

Alice didn't bother to answer as she rushed towards the stairs, immediately followed by Edward. Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie also trailed closely. Astonished, the Volturi glanced at each other, froze in place.

On the third floor of the house, Bella's bone chilling scream echoed.

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**Sorry this chapter is really short... But since you guys had to wait quite a while for it, I decided to post a second one. It's also short, but what ever.**

**Please review! **


	13. Chapter 13

**Ok so here is the second chapter. I want to let you know that this is the last chapter I have; you'll have to wait until I write some more for an update. Meanwhile, please update!! Thanks!**

* * *

By the time the four Cullens got to the door of Edward's room, he was leading the way; without a second thought, he knocked the door up and entered. When he saw that Victoria was leaning over a frightened Bella, he pounced and threw the red-headed vampire in the wall to estrange her from Bella.

"Jasper! Take Bella downstairs!" Edward ordered, his furious eyes focused on a provoking Victoria.

"No!" Bella screamed.

But she didn't have much to say; swiftly, Jasper picked her up and ran out of Edward's room. Terrified, Bella tried really hard to ignore the broken door that was now pathetically hanging on its hinges.

In a matter of seconds, Bella and Jasper were back downstairs, and everyone turned to gaze at them.

"Is she really here?" Carlisle asked his son.

Jasper nodded sternly and went to sit on a couch with Bella next to him.

"Oh Bella, dear, are you alright?" Esme asked softly.

Her and Carlisle came to kneel in front of Bella. Incapable of talking, she simply nodded. To her great embarrassment, her eyes filled up with tears. Bella tried to stifle them back.

"Bella!" Esme chanted lovingly. Motherlike, she straightened herself and hugged Bella, trying to comfort her. Next to her, Carlisle eyed Jasper.

"Jasper…" he trailed off suggestively.

Two pairs of eyes flickered towards Bella.

"I'm trying... But it's not working…" Jasper sighted.

Carlisle shuddered.

A few minutes passed as Esme slowly reassured Bella. But just as she was starting to breathe normally again, a furious cry echoed from upstairs and Bella started shivering again.

"Edward!" she whined.

Swiftly, awkwardly, Bella got up and stumbled towards the stair case. Quickly guessing where she wanted to go – back in Edward's room – Jasper caught her and stopped her.

"No, Bella," he said softly.

"But I want to go! What if… What if they get _hurt_?"

Bella cringed at the simple thought. Emmett, so brave and careless. Alice, so tiny. Rosalie… _Edward… _

"You'll only complicate things if you go back – Edward would probably get hurt trying to protect you. You are safe here, and nothing's going to happen to them, trust me," Jasper smothered her.

"It will all be done in no time," Carlisle added.

A second later, a surprisingly loud sound of broken glass echoed to the ears of those in the living room.

"She's trying to run away! Ambush her, Carlisle!" Edward screamed, as to answer everyone's silent questioning.

Bella turned to look at Carlisle, but he and Esme were already gone when she turned to where they had been standing not even a second earlier. Next to her, Jasper tensed.

"What?" Bella worried as she looked in his eternal eyes.

"Nothing. I'd like to be with them, that's it," he simply answered, shrugging.

Bella's eyes narrowed.

"Well go," she said.

Jasper's chin fell as he considered Bella, astonished.

"_What?!_"

"I said go help them," Bella repeated, slightly impatient.

Jasper's eyes envyingly wandered towards the kitchen, which faced the backward of the house, but then, he turned back to Bella.

"No," he said firmly.

"Why?!" Bella asked.

"I can't leave you alone! With _them,_" Jasper through a dark glare at Aro.

Next to him, Bella straighten up and her eyes grew somber.

"Yes you can, and you _will,_" she said.

"Edward _will_ kill me," Jasper replied.

"I can deal with Edward. Trust me. Go help them…" Bella said, lowering her voice. Jasper's eyes once again flickered towards the kitchen.

"That's right, go help your family. We'll take care of Bella," Felix said, mischievous.

Both Bella and Jasper glared at him. When she felt Jasper's indecision, Bella turned back to him.

"Don't worry for me. You know they—" Bella slightly pointed her chin in Aro's general direction, "won't take the chance of hurting me. They know the consequences they'd have to face if they did… I'll be just fine, trust me.''

Jasper considered Bella for a second, then the desire of fighting Victoria overpowered everything.

"Fine. But I hope you'll help me out when Edward will want to bite my head off for leaving you…" he whispered, worried.

Bella laughed.

"Of course. I'll owe you."

"Hardly. Be safe. We'll be right back," Jasper smiled.

Slowly, he picked himself up and lightly kissed Bella on her forehead. A second later, he was already gone.

Bella deeply breathed in, and courageously, she then turned towards the _evil _vampires.

"So… What do you want to do while we wait for them to come back?" she asked, her voice hardly as strong now that she was actually left alone with her enemies.

An oddly calm smile lid Aro's ancient face. Next to him, Felix, Jane and Caius discreetly looked at each other; Bella caught them, and her heart went flying with adrenaline. _Shit, _she thought.

**I'd like Felix and Jane to play "games" with Bella. If you have any ideas, message me please! I'll do my best to write the next chapter as soon as possible!**

**Once again: review!** **Thanks!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello people! Yes, here it is! Chapter 14! About time. Sorry if I kept you waiting, but I really had a hard time writing this one. Two days ago, I finished the first part (everything before the little "O"s (I don't know the proper name in English )) and what started as my shortess chapter actually ended up the second longuest. Thanks to my sister! Although she does not always have good ideas (lol - she wanted me to write that Victoria and Edward kiss) she _did _really help me out this time! **

**Just before I let you go, sorry about all the sniffing thing in the first part of the chapter - I had a whole different idea in my head evolving around that, but it didn't really work out... As for this end of part one, please don't kill me, I'm _trying _something out. Maybe it'll work out, maybe not. But I thought it was funny anyways! :)**

**Enjoy, and don't forget to review at the end! Love you all!! (Yes, once again, I'm hyper!!) **

"Begin by telling us who this Victoria is," Aro proposed.

Bella pouted but nodded.

"We, um… _met _her about two years ago. Long before I met _you_. She was part of a coven with her mate and another vampire…"

"_Was_?" Marcus asked.

Bella hesitated.

"Well, yes. Was. Her mate, James, happened to _like_ my smell… I had to run away to evade him; the Cullens say he was a tracker—" Six sets of immortal eyes locked on Bella and Aro, Marcus, Caius, Jane, Felix and Demetri all sucked in a shocked breath of air. "It lasted a few days, and then he found me. Edward and his family ran into us just when he was about to kill me, and they killed _him._ Since then, Victoria's been trying to avenge his death – mate for mate, she says," Bella continued.

"What happened to the other vampire of her coven?" Felix asked.

"After James' death, he sided with Victoria when she tried to get to me. He, too, has been killed…"

Felix and Caius snickered. Aro looked shocked. Slowly, even to Bella, Jane walked towards her, around the couch she was sitting on, and behind her right shoulder. Swiftly, she leaned in and deeply breathed Bella's scent; Bella stiffened, and Jane chuckled darkly.

"This girl seems to bring out bizarrely strong reactions in our kind," she smiled, her face beatific. "Don't you think?" she asked the members of her coven.

A dark smile lid both Felix and Caius' faces as they looked up to Jane before turning towards Bella. Subtly, Caius nudged Felix forward.

"I think so, too," he approved, looking deep in his friend's eyes.

Slowly, he, too, walked around Bella. An appreciative sound rumbled deep down in his chest when he breathed Bella's scent.

"Um, yes. But she does smell good, doesn't she?" he asked pleasantly.

"Yes, she does," Jane approved.

She smiled at Bella, as if she were complimenting her. Nervous, but knowing that the two vampires were only trying to freak her out, Bella didn't respond.

"It makes me… _thirsty…" _Jane continued, amused.

Lightly, the young looking vampire turned to Aro, her immortal face angelic.

"Can we have one like her, at home?" she asked him.

"If it pleases you, you can have a hundred like her!," Aro answered back, laughing.

For one second, Bella thought he looked just like a grand-father spoiling his favorite grand-child. But she was soon brought back to reality when, behind her, she heard Felix breathed in her scent once again. This time, their was something different...

"Uh, she smells so good; it's maddening, mouthwatering…" he nearly whined. "I wonder…"

Everyone turned to glance at him; when they understood what he wanted to do, the vampires of his clan chuckled and frowned at the same time, somewhat disgusted. Understanding that something was up, Bella stiffened, but she didn't have time to move as much as an inch that Felix what already over her.

Unlike Edward when he had kissed her for the first time, almost three years ago, Felix didn't hesitate at all. Bella didn't have time to understand what was really happening to her that she felt Felix's cold, marble lips moving on hers. She gasped for air. What the hell was happening to her?!

OoOoOoOoOoO

"What are you doing here? Where's Bella? You left her alone with those _freaks_?! Are you _CRAZY_?!" Edward roared when he caught sight of his youngest brother.

Jasper cringed.

"She told me to go," he tried.

Edward's eyes bulged as he considered the blond vampire running behind him. To avoid the temptation of beating up someone of his own blood – metaphorically speaking, Edward continued to chase Victoria off, but under his breath, he murmured a flow of profanities.

The chase continued, and for a few minutes, no one spoke. Edward was still leading the way when they all caught up with Victoria. In the dim light of the morning, before she had time to move as much as an inch, Victoria found herself surrounded from every side.

"You wanted to fight us, Victoria? Well, here we are!" Edward said, his voice menacing.

Victoria didn't bother answering. Instead, she looked all around her, trying to find a hole in the Cullen's defense that would give her the opportunity to run away. Edward read her mind.

"Now, why don't you want to stay with us?" he purred.

The red-head froze, her burgundy eyes narrowing as she turned to face Edward.

"Your Bella deserves to die! You killed my mate!" she said, her voice to soft for the burning hatred of the words she spoke.

Edward rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please!" he snorted. "James was never your mate – or should I say, you were never _his. _He was only using you for his own benefit! You see, you have the uncanny ability to escape no matter the situation – maybe _your _James would still be alive today if he had kept you to his side, who knows?"

Victoria growled.

Covering a part of the right side of the meadow they were in, Emmett grew excited as he felt nervousness tangle with her fury, and to his side, both Alice and Jasper chuckled darkly. _It's about time! _they all thought.

"Sadly – for you – your time has come," Edward said, echoing his brothers and sister's silent opinions.

Slowly, at first, he approached her. She moved away from him, and he shadowed her every move, lithely concentrated, as he always moved just a fraction of a second _before _she did, reading her intentions in her thoughts.

Jasper leaned in forward, ready to second his brother. In doing so, he created a small, tiny gap in his family's defense – intentionally. Victoria felt for it: when the opportunity of escaping sank in, she lunged forward. Instantly, Jasper was on her. Pitiless, he immobilized her in his iron grip. In a matter of milliseconds, Edward was in front of them.

"She's mine, Jasper," he said calmly.

Jasper agreed.

"She is, of course. Do you want her now?"

"Yes," Edward replied.

Jasper slightly bowed his head. Without a word, he released Victoria. Edward pounced and the deadly dance began.

Straight-faced, the former soldier returned back to his place, calmly waiting the end of trouble.

* * *

**Okay so just so you know, I didn't get much time to correct this chapter so I'm pretty sure you've found more mistakes in it than in the other ones. Sorry. But I really wanted to post another chapter before the end of the week since you have all been waiting since _last _week to have one... I hope you liked it. **

**I'm already working on the next one - since the week-end's about to start I'll have more time to work on it; hopefully, I'll be able to post it by the beggining of next week. Hopefully.**

**Thank you all for patiently waiting for me. Please review and tell me what you think cause I'm seriously running out of ideas... And also cause I didn't really get alot of reviews for the two last chapter :(**

**Oh ya, just before I forget: I know I've use quite a few lines that directly come from Eclipse (with somehow the same context) so just in case, since I do not want to get in trouble... _I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT SERIES. _sadly _I'M JUST FOOLING AROUND WITH THE GREATEST AUTHOR IN THE WORLD'S CHARACTERS!!_**

**Thanks!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry it took so long... I know, I had said that I'd update last week but, um, what ever. Here is Chapter 15. I hope you like it... I really don't have much to say today, so I guess I'll just shut up and let you read. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Um, you are so… _warm_…" Felix mumbled, his lips against Bella's.

"Get off of me!" Bella screamed, as loud as she could.

Pointlessly, she tried to push Felix away. He just laughed, soon joined in by the rest of the vampires present. Slowly, he pulled himself of off Bella, but soon leaned back in to smell her once again.

"You taste even better than you smell – I wonder how your _blood _is…"

"Well keep wondering if you wish, because you'll never be able to find out!" Bella snapped.

For one second, everyone stopped breathing, moving. Bravely, Bella held the glare Felix threw her. In his corner, Demetri laughed.

"I love her, I really do!" he chuckled.

Felix threw _him _a dark glare.

"Well I guess it's too bad Edward found her before you, then, isn't it?" he growled.

Demetri rolled his eyes, amused.

Menacing, Felix stood, tall and big, in front of Bella, his cold, dark eyes focused on her. Bella's heart went flying as adrenaline rushed through her, but before Felix had time to move, Marcus got up and everyone froze.

"Enough, Felix. Jane. Leave the poor girl alone, will you? It's not because you haven't met _your _mate yet that it gives you the right to frighten Edward's."

Bella's jaw felt; everyone else's face was just the portray of different stages of shock.

Slowly, gracefully, Marcus came to sit next to Bella. To her huge surprise, he gently took her hand and held it between his. Bella shivered; his hands were so cold, so hard – colder and harder than Edward's; than anyone else's in the Cullen family.

Shocked and disgusted, both Jane and Felix went back to stand behind Aro and Caius. Marcus completely ignored them.

"Excuse them," he said, his voice low, husky. He slightly tilted his head towards Jane and Felix's general direction. Bella gulped, wordless and nodded.

"It's… it's alright," she ended up mumbling.

A slight smile warmed Marcus' immortal face.

"You sound just like my old love, Bella," he said.

From the opposite side of the room, sitting next to his other brother, Caius nearly snorted.

"_Please!"_

Marcus completely ignored him, his eyes glued to Bella's.

"You look like her, your eyes… And you are just as brave…"

A small, timid smile grew on Bella's lips. Marcus' response was brilliant, and for one short instant, Bella wondered how his delicate and frigid looking skin could bare it, for he was smiling hugely. _Silly me_, she then thought. She rolled her eyes to herself.

"What?" Marcus demanded her, curious.

"Nothing," Bella murmured. "Being stupid, that's it…"

Marcus chuckled lightly, amused, and from the opposite side of the room, Caius, Jane and Felix all arrogantly chortled to themselves.

Marcus rolled his eyes, but otherwise seemed completely oblivious of the others' reaction.

"Frighten fools," he murmured.

Bella heard him. "_Frighten?_ Of what?" she asked.

Marcus met her curious stare.

"You, obviously," he simple said.

Bella's mouth felt open, and to Aro's side, Caius growled. Behind him, Jane and Felix kept quiet, nevertheless, their glorious faces twisted into a disgust grimace.

Bella struggled to hide her astonishment. _Well, that's a first, _she still thought.

"Of _me?!_" she asked out loud, still stunned. "Why?"

"Do you realize that you have seven powerful vampires out there—" Caius pointed the kitchen door where Jasper had disappeared about ten minutes earlier with the tip of his chin, "that are ready to do anything to protect you? They've turned their backs to their nature for you – is that worth anything to your eyes?" Marcus answered calmly.

"Of course!" Bella stammered, shocked.

"Never in history has a human been so _important _to our kind… You don't realize it now, but maybe when you'll become one of ours, you'll see how powerful you really are…"

Marcus paused, and Bella eagerly waited for him to continue.

"You could oh-so easily destroy our world, if you wanted it, Bella…"

"I… don't understand," Bella hesitated.

Marcus smiled a gentle smile.

"Would you want me to explain to you, dear Bella?" he kindly asked, totally different from the frozen, obnoxious and bored immortal he had been just a few minutes ago.

"Please," Bella nearly mouthed, her voice weak.

Marcus' smile grew.

"For thousands and thousands of years, our secrecy has been more a matter of convenience, of ease, than an actual safety," he started. "This last raw, angry century has given birth to weapons of such power that they endanger even immortals. Now our status as mere myth in truth protects us from these weak creatures we hunt, for they – your people – have become strong enough in their technologies that, if they wished, they could actually pose a threat to us, even destroy some of us…"

Bella frowned as she tried to understand how Marcus' explanation was really related to her. "But then…" she began, and stopped. She gazed up to meet Marcus' eyes, open confusion in hers. Marcus took an unneeded breath of air and was about to answer Bella's unspoken question when Caius stopped him.

"Would you _mind_…?" he snapped.

Bella unwillingly turned to the glaring vampire and shivered when his eyes full of hatred flickered towards her. Reassuring, Marcus tighten his hold on Bella's hands and turned back to her.

"She has the right to know. She wants us no harm – she only wants to understand…" he answered his brother, while looking into Bella's deep chocolate eyes. Caius growled, but this time, his brother ignored her.

"You… You don't have to tell me if you don't want to…" Bella spluttered to Marcus, hoping to enclose the quarrel before it degenerated – she really didn't want to be stuck between the two brothers if it did…

Both Marcus and Caius ignored her, and for one second, Bella wondered if they even had _heard _her in the first place… For a few seconds that seemed like hours to Bella, the two brothers glared at each other, unspeaking. Finally, Marcus turned back to look at her, his eyes gentle again.

"You are on in the secret. You know everything," he said calmly.

Caius snarled, annoyed, but Marcus ignored him and continued with his explanation:

"On one side, you are strong of your people's technology, and on the other, you are strong of our kind's secret. My brothers are scared of you remaining human for the simple reason that you are uncontrollable as you go. Unpredictable. We don't know if we can trust you, and yet, we cannot dispose of you for the same reason… We are in an impasse, and until you become one of us, you have more power over us, over our kind that anyone could ever hope for..."

* * *

**YEAH!! **

**Breaking Dawn came out!! **

**The party at Chapters was sooo cool, I had so much fun! And, of course, I'm already done reading it. How about you? Did you like it? I'd like to hear from you when you review...**

**Oh and ya - speaking of Breaking Dawn, I'm sure some of you have noticed, but I have used a quote from the novel in this chapter. When Marcus explains to Bella how the vampiric world works. Just in case some people are not done reading the book, I won't tell you who says the quote in the actual novel or what it's really about - all I'm going to say is that it comes from p. 716 in the novel. **

**Hum... I guess that's about it... One last thing, though: what happened to my usual reviewers?! Now, don't get me wrong - I thank everyone that did review my last chapter, but I just wondered where the few people that are usually the first ones to review went...? Anyways. I hope you all liked this chapter - the next one should come shortly (it's already writen, I just have to change a few things). Please review - I put a lot of effort in the stuff I write; I'd like to get comments...**

**Please and thanks!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay, sorry guys - I really didn't see this week past by... Anyhow. Here is Chapter 16. I hope you like it!**

* * *

Bella's head spun as her brain tried to consider all the information that Marcus had just given her. _Too much_ information.

Acknowledging the blood draining from her face and her wide, shocked eyes, Marcus' brows puckered as he saw Bella freeze. Clearly, something was wrong.

"Bella, dear… Are you alright…?" he asked, worried.

Bella didn't answer; she didn't even look at him. Frowning, Marcus leaned in and waved his hand back and forth in front of Bella's blank staring face.

"Hello, Bella… Are you there?"

Slowly, Bella felt back until her back was resting on the couch.

"Nonsense," she mumbled.

Marcus jumped to his feet and, at the same time, Felix and Jane flung themselves a few steps forward.

"Is she dead?" Felix wondered, eager.

Marcus threw his guard a murderous glare before he leaned over Bella. Softly, not wanting to hurt her, he shook her like he had seen humans do before, hoping it would bring her back to reality.

Unfortunately for him, not only did it not work, but just as he touched Bella, Edward and the rest of the Cullen family came back from their tracking expedition.

In an instant, Edward was at Bella's side, his face utterly menacing as he glared at Marcus.

"What did you _do _to her? Get away!" he roared.

Sensing the danger, Demetri came to put himself between his master and Edward, defensive.

"Back off," Edward growled.

"You first," Demetri replied, calm.

Edward's eyes narrowed as he thought about attacking Demetri.

"Why don't you take care of Bella, instead of stupidly trying to fight me off?" the Volturi vampire snapped.

Edward didn't answer. Just as Emmett and Jasper came to second him in case he did decide to attack Demetri, Edward dropped to his knees at Bella's side. When he heard her heart beating and saw that her eyes were wide open, he sighed, relieved. Tenderly, he captured Bella's right hand and held it in between his.

"Bella, love," he whispered. "Do you hear me?"

Bella turned her head towards him; her eyes locked with his but remained slightly empty.

"Edward," she mumbled.

"I'm right here, Bella. I'm back." Edward hurriedly answered.

"Edward," Bella said again.

Clumsily, she tried to pull herself up. Edward help her out, and when she was back to sitting normally on the couch, he pulled her to him and hugged her. No one talked for over a minute, and finally, Edward pulled Bella away from him, only to look in her eyes as he tried to understand what had been going on.

"Bella, is something wrong?" he softly asked her when he read the slight nervousness in her chocolate eyes.

Bella shook her head.

"No, nothing. Just a little… surprised, that's it…"

Edward considered her, surprised.

"Just a _little _surprised?! That's an understatement – you looked like you were in shock!" he vividly replied.

Bella blushed and dropped her eyes.

Clearly understanding that she didn't really want to talk about what had happened, Edward turned to glare at Marcus.

"_What _did you do to her?" he asked.

"Nothing! We were just talking and then…"

"Talking?_ You?!_" Emmett asked, out of nowhere.

Despite the tense atmosphere, to that Carlisle had to laugh. A few steps behind his family, with Esme at his side, the blond vampire tried really hard to hide his amusement, but the incredulous look on his son's face ruined it all. When he cracked up, everyone turned to look at him, and Bella startled everyone when she also started to laugh.

"What… What's so _funny_?" Jasper demanded, shocked by all the amusement he could feel excruciating from his father figure and his soon-to-become-sister.

"It's just… just that… Emmett's face was _priceless_…" Bella tried to explain through her giggles.

Edward's tense face relaxed. In front of him, Bella pulled herself up. Unexpectedly, she skipped to Marcus' side before Edward had time to stop her and lightly kissed him on the cheek, a wide smile on her face. If it had been possible, Marcus would have blushed.

In the room, everyone froze, and Carlisle swiftly stopped laughing. Realizing that something was wrong, Bella slowly walked back to Edward and lightly caresses his frozen cheek.

"Wh-What?" she stammered.

Under her touch, Edward relaxed, but his eyes quickly filled with hatred as he turned to glare at Marcus.

"What did you _do _to her?" Edward asked him, again.

Frozen, Marcus didn't answer. Infuriated, Edward was about to flung himself at him when Bella came to stand in-between them.

"Stop! What got into you?!" she scold at him.

Edward frowned.

"Nothing! What got into _you?_" he answered, slightly confused.

"Nothing either. What are you talking about?" Bella asked.

"You're not in your normal state. And neither is he—" Edward threw Marcus a dark glare to which Demetri replied.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked Edward, tilting her head to the side like she did when she did not understand something.

Edward sighed, exasperated.

"I came back from taking care of Victoria, and I found you nearly unconscious with _Marcus_ over you—" Edward spat the vampire's name, "All Felix and Jane were thinking about is 'is she dead? is she?' and Caius had this idiotic hopeful look on his face…"

Still sitting to his other brother's side, Caius growled when he heard Edward insult him, and instantly, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie growled back at him to remind him that he was in minority. As for Edward, he totally ignored the Volturi leader and continued:

"Your turn, now. Since when do you defend a vampire?" he growled, looking deep in Bella's eyes.

"Since the said vampire didn't do anything wrong. If you could just calm down, two seconds…!" Bella snapped back.

Edward recoiled back, surprised, but quickly regained composure. Darkly, he folded his arms on his chest.

"Fine. I'm calm. Explain, now," he said.

Bella rolled her eyes at him and sighed.

"Fine. Just one question before, though… What happened, with Victoria…?" she asked, hesitatingly.

Edward's face grew soft.

"She won't ever hurt you – or even _try _to hurt you. It's all taking care of," he said calmly.

At the news, Bella's stiffened shoulders felt and she sighted, relieved. Forgetting all about the fight they were having, Bella walked to Edward and hugged him. A slight smile grew on Edward's lips as he pulled Bella closer to his chest and closed his arms on her.

"It's over," he mumbled, his face in her hair.

"I love you," Bella replied against his chest.

* * *

**To be honest with you, I don't really know why Bella freaks out like that... but it's Bella... No? Also, I realize that this chapter is sort of nowhere, but the next one should be a little bit more entertaining (I hope). Anyways. Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter! I also got alot of comments on Breaking Dawn... It's funny how everyone has different opinions...**

**That's about it... Review, please! You guys would seriously make my day if I receive 5 reviews (or more, of course) for this chapter... Hint, hint :D Love you all!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry I've kept you waiting for so long... My parents and sister left for a week in Montreal; I thought I'd be able to write a little during my private "vacation", but clearly, I wasn't. 'Guess I was too busy enjoying the quietness of my house... ;)**

**Anyhow. I know the last chapter I wrote was pretty random, and I'd really like to thank everyone that left a review for it. A special someone seriously made my day when she reviewed in one shot something like six chapters...! So this chapter is dedicated to that person, and to everyone else that, at some point, left me comments and reviews. Thanks to everyone! (Keep reviewing, thought...)**

**Okay. I'm done. Enjoy!**

* * *

"I love you, too," Edward purred, but then, he stiffened and pulled Bella away from him and looked deep in her eyes. "…But as much as I do, you have thirty seconds to tell me what has been going on while we were gone if you don't want me to kill your new _best buddy…_" he said, spitting the last two word.

Bella scowled, but couldn't stop herself from shivering at the poorly-concealed menace in Edward's words.

"Marcus and I were just _talking_, Edward, as I said! Why is it such a surprise to you?!" she said, impatiently.

"Because not thirty minutes ago, Marcus _frightened_ you…!" Edward replied.

Bella dropped her eyes, ashamed.

"Well, I was wrong, thirty minutes ago," she mumbled more to herself than for Edward's benefit.

"Fine, then," Edward accepted. "What did you two talk about?" he asked, somber.

Bella hesitated as she felt Marcus' slight discomfort. "Can I tell you later?" she asked Edward.

Conciliatory, Edward nodded.

"As you wish," he sighted. "Can I at least know what else you did? You didn't talk with Marcus for half an hour, did you? You most have done something else, no?"

Bella tensed. From the corner of her eyes, she threw a quick glance at Felix, who innocently smiled back at her. Discreetly, he shook his head forward, as if he were daring her to actually talk about what had happen _before_ her chat with Marcus… Bella stiffened, and a low disapprobation growl escaped her clenched lips.

"What I am missing, exactly?" Edward asked, wary. "Did you have a talk with _Felix _too?!"

"Ha!" laughed Felix.

"No, not exactly," grumbled Bella when she read the impatience in Edward's topaz eyes. "I'm surprised you haven't found out yet, actually…" she thought out loud.

Surprised, Edward looked at Felix and a look an intense concentration crossed his face. Bella whined, understanding what he was trying to do, and hugged herself to his chest. "I rather wish you _didn't_ try to find out," she tried.

Edward ignored her. For seconds that seemed to stretch to hours, no one talked; breathed. Slowly, Edward's features twisted until his face was the perfect illustration of fury. Plain fury.

"You _kissed _her?!" Edward roared.

And before Bella could move as much as an inch to pointlessly try to stop him, Edward lunged himself at Felix.

"No! _No! _Stop it! Now!"

Although she knew she would never be able to make the two vampires stop fighting, Bella still had to try. She _was_ only human, after all… _Not for long, _she thought, _and when I'll be vampire, I'll seriously kick their ass!_ Furious, Bella stepped forward, but before she could go any farther, two cold arms stopped her.

Too busy observing the fight that was going on between Edward and Felix to look who had stopped her, she trashed and screamed "Let go off me!" in the person's general direction.

Behind her, Jasper sighted.

"Don't be ridiculous, Bella," he answered calmly. "Do you really think you could stop them?"

Bella growled.

"Fine. Why don't _you_ go stop them, then, instead of wasting your energy on me?!" she spat.

Jasper chuckled. "First," he said, "I'm not wasting _any _energy on you, right now. Just so you know. Second: why would I stop them? Felix _needs _a good wake-up call… Plus, it's entertaining…"

Bella rolled her eyes. _Three more months, three… _she chanted to herself. Trying to calm down, she turned aside from the fight and happened to look at Emmett - crouched, ready to go join in, the huge vampire had an enormous grin on his face and was cheering his brother: "Go Edward, go! Kick his ass, come on!" _Idiot! _Bella screamed. _Seriously, fighting is really a guy-thing! _From the corner of her eyes, Bella glanced at Esme, Rosalie and Alice and took comfort in the fact that neither of them seemed exited about the fight the way the boys of the family were.

Bella was still looking at Alice when the tiny vampire froze, and empty look in her eyes. Gulping, Bella instantly understood what was going on. So did Carlisle and Jasper when they also happened to turn to her when they heard her gasp for air.

"Alice?" Carlisle asked, his voice almost to low for Bella to hear it over the noise of the fight and Emmett's cheering.

Alice didn't answer. Carlisle and Jasper didn't even have time to get to her that she was standing right behind Edward.

"Enough, already!" she screamed, so loud Bella covered her splitting ears.

Everyone in the room froze and turned to look at Alice.

"Aren't the two of you a little bit to old to act like five-years-old?" she snapped, looking at her brother and Felix.

Neither of the two vampires replied, thought Felix threw Alice a dark glare.

"What's going on?" Rosalie finally asked after a few long seconds of silence.

"We have company," Alice answered her sister. She turned to Edward and Felix: "Unless you two absolutely want to bite each other's head off, would you mind continuing your childish fight later?" she sarcasticly asked.

Jasper didn't give Alice's two targets time to answer. He turned to his wife. "Compagny? Who?" he asked calmly.

Edward's head snapped towards the main door of the house.

"No…! What are they doing here?!" he gasped.

"Who?" Esme demanded, worried.

Alice threw a quick glance in Bella's direction.

"What?!" Bella asked, wary.

"Your little human friends decided to pay us a visit," Alice answered her. Discouraged, she hit herself in the head, as if she were trying to chastise herself. "Man, I can't believe I didn't see this coming! What kind of psychic I am, for crying out loud...?!"

"An awsome one," Jasper answered automatically as he leaned over her to kiss her on the tip of her nose. "But as of now, I believe we have more important questions to ask…" he added.

"Such as…? Carlisle asked, confused.

Jasper turned to glared at the Voltury.

"Such as, 'isn't the humans' visit convenient for you all'? Didn't Felix mentioned just a while ago how thirsty he was…? And since he can't go hunt for himself, you decided to take delivery?"

"What is he talking about?" Bella wondered out loud.

"Heidi's with your friends. She leaded them here," Edward discreetly answered her.

For one instant, Bella froze, horrified, as images of the beautiful vampire they – Edward, Alice and herself – had happen across for a few brief seconds back during their sojourn in Italy. _Part hunter, part bait_, Bella had understood than when she had seen how the gorgeous woman was dressed…

Bella started to hyperventilate as her heart went flying with adrenaline and horror. _She hunted my _friends ­­– _Oh lord, so the Voltury could _feed _on them…! _she thought.

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**I kinda feel like the ending is a little poor, but whatever. I really wanted to give you something since I made you wait a while; I hope you liked it. Please, please review! I really appreciate reading the comments you send me - they always make my day! **

**Thanks!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Ok. Sorry, but this probably the last chapter you'll get from me anytime soon - I'm starting college tomorrow, and since I have no freaken idea how things are going to work out, I'm a little bit freaking out, right now. **

**Actually, I'm freaking out BIG time. Can I say "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG"?! Lol. **

**All I can say is that I'll be pretty busy in the next few days. Actually, that's an understatement. :D However, I will**** do my best to update soon.**

**So. This is chapter 18. I hope you guys like it cause it was pretty hard to write... Hihi! Sorry if it's still random, I'm just totally loosing it, and it was pretty late when I finished it last night!**

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"Breathe, Bella," Edward reminded her. He rested his right hand against her cheek to calm her down, and blew her a kiss. "Everything will be just fine, don't you worry. Just keep a strait face, that's it. Alice and I will take care of the rest…"

"You will 'take care of the rest'?" Bella repeated,"What's that suppose to mean?!" she asked, automatically on her guard.

A sly smile appeared on Edward's face.

"What would you say to go take a swim down at La Push? It's been a while, don't you thing?"

Before Bella even had time to respond, Jasper jumped to his feet. "La Push?" he asked, incredulous, a hint on disgust in his eyes.

"That's a great idea, Edward," Carlisle intervened, as he threw a quick warning glance at Jasper. "You should go say 'hello' to Sam and his brothers, too…"

_Tell them about our guests, Edward. They have the right to know, and I wouldn't want them to come pay us a visit now, you see? _he added mentally.

Edward discreetly nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking about," he agreed.

Seeming totally oblivious of the exchange, Alice went to stand a few feet away from the main door of the house. "They'll be here a two minutes," she finally said, looking up to Edward.

"What are you going to tell Bella's friends?" Esme asked. "We have to think about something…"

"What brings them here, anyways? I mean, what did…_Heidi?_…tell them to get them to follow her?" Emmett asked.

"I don't think a guy like Mike needs a lot of convincing when it comes to follow someone like _Heidi,_" Bella chuckled darkly.

Emmett's booming laugh echoed in the room. "That bad?" he asked Bella.

Rosalie hissed furiously at her husband, and Bella chocked back her answer. Amused, Emmett winked at Bella as he obediently leaned in to kiss his wife on the cheek. Bella giggled to herself, but was quickly brought back to reality when, next to her, she felt Edward tense.

"Emmett's got a good question, you know. What _did _Heidi say for them to follow her here?" she whispered.

From the corner of her eyes, Bella noticed that her question had caught Emmett's attention. Meanwhile, Carlisle turned towards his Italian _friends_.

"How dare you hunt on our land, Aro, Marcus, Caius? I thought we had been clear about that: no hunting around Forks! I thought the friendship we shared would be strong enough to retain you from breaking this simple rule… Apparently not," Carlisle sighed.

Proud as ever, Caius held Carlisle's disappointed glance. To his side, his two brothers slightly bowed their heads in sign of shame, Marcus more than Aro as he really felt bad for breaking his friend's trust in him.

"Shall we come back to this discussion later?" Jasper calmly asked despite the glare he threw the Volturi clan.

"That's right, I guess. They must be close, now…" Bella agreed. She eyed her vampire family: "What are you going to tell them? I mean, what's our story?"

"Heidi told them our family was organizing a pool-party for the seniors. And that we'd talk about prom and about the after-prom party… That's how she got them to follow her. We just have to say that –" Alice started.

"After-prom party?!" Bella interrupted her, stunned.

"Yes, _after-prom party, _Bella," Alice emphasized, her face hard. "Please, don't be difficult! We'll talk about it later, okay? – it doesn't help us if discard everything we'll tell your friends in… ten seconds…!"

Bella hesitated, as Alice's time limit threw her off a little. "Fine, then," she grumbled. "But don't think I'll forget. Trust me," she threatened.

Alice rolled her eyes but didn't answer. Instead, she turned towards the main doors, ready to face the 'enemy', immediately imitated by the rest of her family.

Ten incredibly long seconds passed by.

Finally, half an instant before the door-bell actually rang, Alice danced herself forward to greet the guests. She opened the door, and instantly, a lovely and reassuring smile lighted her angelic face.

"Hello people!"

Agglutinated on the front porch, Mike, Jessica, Angela, Ben, Eric, Tyler, Lauren and a few more froze, surprised.

"Er, hi," they finally answered, feeling awkward.

Despite her discomfort, a slight smile twitched on Bella's face as she mentally laughed of her friends' obvious embarrassment.

She stepped forward.

"Hey, guys!" she greeted her friends.

Beside Lauren and her followers that totally ignored her, everyone turned to her.

"Bella!" Mike, Angela and Ben sighed in pleasure.

Gaining confidence, Bella threw her three best friends a warm smile.

"Do you want to step in? You are not just going to stay on the porch like that, are you?" she asked them.

Before anyone of them could answer, Heidi moved up.

"Hello Bella, it's a pleasure to see you again!" the gorgeous vampire smiled. "And what a great idea! Come on, you all, don't be shy! We don't bite…"

The Volturi clan chuckled; the Cullen family frowned in disgust. Totally at ease, Heidi stepped forward, peeked Alice on the cheek and went to join her family. The humans awkwardly followed her inside, but remained next to the door when Alice closed it behind them, uncomfortable despite the fact that they were finally able to see _the _Cullen house.

For a few seconds, no one talked, and a tensed atmosphere filled the room. More comfortable around humans than anyone in her family beside Carlisle himself, Alice smiled to herself as she went back to Edward and Bella's side.

"So, guys. I know that Heidi told you that we'd have a pool-party here, and I'm glad to see that you all came, but if you don't mind, could we go to La Push's First Beach instead? As you can see, my parents are receiving some family – which I had totally forgotten about, so I'm not sure that staying here is a good idea…" Alice loosely indicated the Italian vampires that were all sitting in one area of the room.

In the very back of the group, next to Lauren, Jessica gasped.

"Family?!"

Slightly surprised by her exclamation, Alice hesitated. At ease, Emmett immediately continued:

"Ya, the three old wrecks over there—" he pointed the three brothers over his shoulder without even looking at them, "are Carlisle's uncles. They are Italian; their names are Aro, Marcus and Caius…" Emmett snickered, and then pointed Felix Demetri, Jane and Heidi, "They are their sons and daughters – real brats, let me tell you…"

Everyone in the room froze. On one side, Bella's shocked friends that had, not only never really seen Emmett from so close, but that had never even exchange _a word _with him – let alone a whole conversation; and on the other, all the vampires of the place that were either too surprised or insulted to talk.

In his corner, Jasper glared at the ceiling as highly contradictory emotions – fear, hunger, wrath, amusement – tried to overpower him. _Oh great. Seriously, damn it. This is _so _ridiculous! _he thought.

After a moment, perceptive and receptive as she was, Angela detected the tense atmosphere. To put an end to it, despite the slight worry in her dark eyes, she stepped forward towards the _uncles_, her hand raised tentatively_. _

"Er, hello. My name is Angela Weber. It's a pleasure to meet you all," she warmly said.

A fake gentle smile lid Felix's face as he moved forward to shake hands with Angela, but the hungry look that crossed his eyes gave his intentions away to the Cullens. In Edward's arms, Bella's heart stopped as she felt the urge to scream in fear. _No! Not Angela!_

But before she even had time to take a step forward, quick as lightning, Jasper nonchalantly came to stand next to Angela, inconspicuously blocking Felix's way to her. Hoping to stop Angela and her friends from noticing the guarded position of her husband, Alice then called their attention:

"No! – I mean... It's fine, Angela," she hastily stammered. "Anyways, they don't speak a word of English – it's not like you'd be able to chat with them…" she lightly said.

Amused by the Cullen family's efforts to protect the valueless, insignificant humans from them, the Volturi vampires all smiled darkly.

Casually sitting on Emmett's lap, Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, Felix is a big-time creep – I'm not sure you really want to shake hands with him – or get anywhere _close _to him, for that matter…" she said, not even caring to lower her voice, quickly settling the scores.

Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Esme, Carlisle and Bella all pressed their lips together to stop from laughing, but the furious glare they caught Felix throwing at Rosalie all pushed them over the edge, and they broke into a roar of laughter. Startled, Bella's friends all looked at each other.

Bella caught them; laughing, she walked up to meet them.

"Are you guys up for a swim at La Push, like Alice said?" she asked them. "It'd be great if you could come – it sucks we can't do anything here, but whatever. Please?" she begged.

Easy going, Mike, Angela and Ben accepted immediately. "Of course!" they all said together. Soon after, the rest of the kids agreed as well.

"Cool, sweet! Thanks!" Bella smiled.

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**So, as I said, I feel like I'm pretty much loosing this story. I have absolutely no idea what to write next. But I'm open to suggestions. **

**Obviously, Bella and her bunch are going to make it to LaPush and you'll get to read a little about Jacob and his brothers. And, well...er, that's about for the next chapter, as of right now. **

**Please, tell me what you want to see (or read). You can always tell me "Please, Izz, put an end to this story cause it's really getting random, weird and repetitive" - that's okay, too! :D Just review, that's all I'm asking! I really want you all to tell me what you feel like, cause I'm definitely not going to put any efforts in sumthing that you are all tired of. **

**Thank you!**

**REVIEW!! Please :)**


	19. Author's Note

**Author's note:**

**I'm sooo very sorry, but university been totally nuts (I have so much work to do, it's not even funny), I have to put my story on hold indefinitely... I don't have time to update it anymore. I hope you guys forgive me. I was really hoping that I'd still be ablet to write every once in a while, but I can't even do that...**

**Just to give you a sligh insight on what my weeks are like, when I'm not at school, I'm at home doing my projects and lectures, and when I'm not at home, I'm working. Yup.**

**Very sorry...**

**- Izz**


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